Ajaxtalk

Ajax hit the road on Sunday in what could be a tricky fixture against Heerenveen.

With AZ dragging out a 1-0 win last night we have to win this game.PSV and Feyenoord have easy games on paper. Taylor in for Klaassen .Davy is on 4 cards so a yellow today would mean him missing next week but surely he will still see 20 to 30 mins action today.

2-0 up after 15 minutes. Kudus and Alvarez. Heerenveen is not putting up a fight so far… which is great for us.

And Bergwijn makes the third in the 19th minute. Things are looking great.

Wow, cooking with oil

All three goals were pretty nice by the way. Convincing strikes by Kudus and Alvarez. A nice combination in the 16 yard box between Tadic and Bergwijn.

Other than the mental lapse on the Heerenveen goal, this was about as good a half as Ajax have played this season. Bergwijn almost had the fourth but clanged it off the post. Keep the pressure up and get back home with a win.

A great 20 mins and a fine 1st half but we went off the boil in the 2nd half and I did think they would bring it back to 4-3 and we did look like we were hanging on a bit . Timber and Berghuis should be fined for their stupid yellow cards ,imagine if Timber is suspended for PSV or AZ game.

Their first goal ,again Timber standing still letting the guy get a free header and the 2nd maybe Gulli should not have come out.

Lets hope Volendam can do us a favour and maybe Cambuur as well.

Very good football for the first seventy or so minutes and then it was like Ajax lost concentration. They got sloppy with the ball took some very sill YCs for dissent and gave up a goal that Rulli judged very poorly. Had he not come out into no man's land he makes the save. The offense finally looked to be clicking and there were some shots that almost went in which would have made it a more comfortable win. Kudus was the best player on the pitch for me, pressing well and when he had the ball he could not be dispossessed.

Player Ratings:

Rulli (5.5) - really should have done better on the second goal but otherwise had little to do
Rensch (7) - pretty solid game both with the ball and defending
Timber (6.5) - poor marking on the first goal and stupid YC but otherwise excellent with some very good offensive runs
Bassey (7) - better with each game
Wijndal (7) - maybe his best game for Ajax this season, finally making good runs down the left flank
Alvarez (7) - rocket of a goal and very good EXCEPT for the horribly weak back pass and then was lucky that VAR saved his bacon on a PK call that was overturned
Taylor (7) - solid game and his right footed shot solidly found the back of the net
Berghuis (6.5) - really stupid YC for dissent but OK otherise
Kudus (8) - just magnificent
Tadic (7) - solid game
Bergwijn (7.5) - looks like he is out of his funk and playing very well
Brobbey (6) - had a header from a tough angle go off the crossbar and was fouled near the end line that should have been called

Feyenoord up next Sunday

my first Ajax game in 3 weeks as I was in Japan (and man, I feel bad for all the Ajax supporters in the APAC region, it’s really challenging time wise to catch Ajax games). thought the team played well, though both rensch and wijndal looked suspect anytime they got under serious pressure. good to see bergwijn getting back in form and too bad his shot hit the post, that would have been a great goal taking out several defenders. kudus had another great game and will go for 70-90 million when he does (and psv will be bitter again about that). fword got lucky today again but they keep winning so must beat them on sunday as we have a more difficult program for the rest of the season.

A win is a win at this point so I won’t complain too much. But i find it pretty concerning how much Heerenveen controlled the game in the second half. This Ajax team just can’t bring the ball forward against any sort of press.